Grand Rapids will require inspections for renting single-family homes

GRAND RAPIDS — Renters won greater protection from the Grand Rapids City Commission on Tuesday, which approved a new ordinance requiring single-family homes receive the same inspections as multi-family dwellings and that all rental properties be certified by the city.

Beginning July 1, all rental properties in Grand Rapids will require inspections, a move proponents believe will make rental properties safer and help reduce the growing number of blighted homes, which has exploded since the housing crisis began six years ago. Housing advocates say the city has seen some 3,200 homes converted into rental properties between 2006 and 2009 because of the housing crunch and add there are some 4,000 foreclosed homes now vacant in the city.

“In the end, this is a positive thing for our neighborhoods,” said Tyler Nickerson, affordable housing advocate with the Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness. Nickerson conceded the group had hoped to win more frequent certifications for rentals.

Landlords will have the option of applying for four-year or six-year certifications that their properties comply with city housing codes. An earlier version of the ordinance had specified a two-year certification option, which was dropped in a compromise with city landlords, something Nickerson and other housing advocates said they can live with.

“We know there are a certain number of properties that have trouble keeping up with standards for any number of reasons,” Nickerson said. “We want to make sure the city has the tools to make sure all properties are compliant.”

The compromise didn’t please some landlords, who expressed doubts it will accomplish what city leaders hope. Tom Koetsier, president of the 1,600-member Rental Property Owners Association, said his group negotiated with city officials and housing advocates believing only a six-year certification would be proposed.

“Eliminating the two-year certifications is good because single-family homes don’t take as much hard use as multi-family units do,” Koetsier said. “We went into this thinking that we would have a six-year certification, so we’re still disappointed.”

Koetsier added his group believes many of the issues city officials are trying to address are created by tenants, not landlords.

“Our contention is that the biggest share of what they’re out here inspecting are tenant responsibilities,” he said. “As a landlord, I don’t throw trash in the front yard.”

Along with the new ordinance, though not formally part of it, city officials agreed to ask the rental property owners association to provide training for its members and try to create a pool from which landlords could draw funds to bring properties up to code, possibly by using about $700,000 in the city’s rental rehabilitation program.

“The last thing we want is more vacant properties because property owners don’t have the resources to bring their properties up to code,” said 2nd Ward Commissioner Rosalyn Bliss. “That’s not good, either.”

The city also will eliminate a registration fee and increase inspection fees to bring in the same revenue to help pay for monitoring property compliance. Officials estimate the ordinance could require up to five new housing inspectors.

The city will also appoint a citizens committee to monitor whether the new inspection and certification requirements are accomplishing what it hopes. The city also will adopt the International Property Maintenance Code used by many surrounding communities, so landlords wouldn’t have as many different sets of regulations with which to comply.

The new ordinance was approved on a 6-1 vote, with 2nd Ward Commissioner Ruth Kelly saying she opposed to the longer certification periods. She said they might allow bad landlords to delay necessary property repairs, making them more expensive and less likely to be completed in the long run.

“Delaying this is much like delaying maintenance on a car,” she said. “It just makes them more expensive for our landlords down the road.”